Posts Tagged ‘Historic Preservation’

The two-block development project that promises to transform a section of Shaw is inching toward completion. Roadside Development's CityMarket at O, which replaces the former O Street Market and the run-down Giant supermarket on 9th Street NW, will include a new Giant, a 182-room Cambria Suites hotel, and senior and market-rate housing. And after some [...]

The old Ontario Theatre in Adams Morgan may soon be razed, but keen observers will likely recognize a few of its most prominent features in its reincarnated form.
Historic Washington Architecture, Inc. filed an application to give the 1950s theater historic landmark status in August 2011, citing its period-specific architecture and its longtime role as a [...]

History in the District can move in circles. Once-vibrant neighborhoods emerge from decades of poverty and again find themselves at the center of the city’s attention. The heroes of the past find their names on shiny new condo buildings. The streetcar, until 50 years ago a centerpiece of Washingtonians’ daily lives, makes a comeback. And [...]

On Wisconsin Avenue just north of the National Cathedral, in a gap between large boxy apartment buildings, a modest house sits back incongruously from the street. It's been empty and deteriorating for the last several years, since the Historic Preservation Review Board rebuffed owner Mark Kaufman's attempt to move the building to another location (the [...]

When Unity of Washington outgrew its Romanesque Revival building on Capitol Hill, it wasn’t easy to sell. D.C. doesn’t have much of a market for used churches; many congregations have followed their worshippers to the suburbs over the years. The 107-year-old church at 7th and A streets NE had good bones and a graceful presence. [...]

Back in January, the Historic Preservation Review Board ruled that the doors of the Cleveland Park Firehouse—which has been closed since fall of 2010, awaiting renovations—were too historic to be changed for the 21st century's wider fire trucks. Much gnashing of teeth about putting historicity over neighborhood safety ensued.
As I noted, though, the board was [...]

Remember when we talked about how some of the most difficult cases the Historic Preservation Review Board will have to deal with in the next few years are the ones not everyone thinks of as "historic", like the buildings that came after hundreds of acres of Southwest D.C. got flattened? Well, two have come up [...]

A little after 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, if you had been walking down New York Avenue NW towards the Convention Center, you would've seen an odd sight: A falling-apart old building on wheels, walking across the street. That's the former Hodge's Roast Beef Sandwich Shop, which had been elevated up on blocks in preparation [...]

Last Thursday was the first day on the job for seven out of nine Historic Preservation Review Board members, and several of them wasted no time asserting their authority. In particular, they expressed concern over the size and modernity of developer JBG's plan for the empty lots on the south side of Florida Avenue between [...]

It's easy to bemoan the decrepit state of an historic building. Fortunately, the District has a couple of powerful tools to compel landowners to take care of them.
Take the building on the northeast corner of 11th and K Streets NW. Doug Jemal's Douglas Development bought it in 2003, and wrapped in one of the 32 [...]